Posts Tagged ‘Major League Baseball’

 

All-Stars at MLB Game Logging In Live

Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

Major League Baseball fans already have their calendars marked for the July 10 All-Star Game taking place at 7:30pm eastern time (via FOX) at the Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

Kauffman Stadium

Kauffman Stadium (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But instead of just tuning in on July 10, it’s time to login to Twitter and Facebook as well. Why?

The Major League Baseball Players Association announced that for the first time ever players will also be logging into their personal social media accounts to post status updates, shout-outs on Twitter, and even upload photos and videos captured from their devices.

In an announcement made on MLB.com, Executive VP for MLB Business Tim Brosnan stated:

We’re thrilled to expand this effort to include the All-Star Game. This initiative will bring fans closer than ever to their favorite players, resulting in what will no doubt be the most ‘social’ events in baseball history.

For the Fans: Engagement

Die hard fans no doubt already follow their favorite players’ social media accounts, yet this level of interaction during an actual game is unsurpassed. Who needs old-school fan mail when, via social media, fans get to sit on the bench with their favorite All-Star.

For the Players: Media Skills

It would be a grave mistake to call this type of interaction a ‘trend.’ It’s here to stay and it’s only going to get more intertwined with everyday life. Pre social media, players had to ‘field’ a few microphones every now and then with an occasional press conference. Now they’re logging in, snapping photos, and uploading videos.

Last year’s “Social Media Derby” in Phoenix was a harbinger of what athletes can expect when they engage with fans. @RobinsonCano’s Twitter following grew by a whopping 84% during the All-Star game alone.

So what’s next?

Just have a look at Google’s Project Glass in the video below and imagine what could be when intertwined with sports and social media.

The Benefits of a Guest Tweeter

Friday, August 26th, 2011

Whether you like to admit it or not, there are times when your Twitter feed can become a little stale.  Sure, new followers are experiencing your tweets for the first time, but what about your loyal fans that have been with you for years?  If you haven’t shaken things up in awhile, there’s a good chance that they are bored.

A great way to spice up your feed is to introduce a guest tweeter.  Major League Baseball recently showed us that handing over the reigns can be a frightening experience, but fun at the same time.  The following is an excerpt from Time.com:

Stephen Colbert beat the MLB at its own game. And his reward was assuming control of their official Twitter Feed.

It’s only expected that the red-blooded, die-hard American Stephen Colbert is a chest-beating fan of our nation’s pastime. Whether his real-life persona (also confusingly named Stephen Colbert) is similarly a fan is up for interpretation, but all signs point to yes. After beating Major League Baseball’s official reps at their own “Beat the Streak” game in June, he was allotted the keys to the @MLB Twitter for 24 hours.

As you can imagine, hilarity ensued.  Here’s a taste of what @MLB followers experienced that day:

I’m sure the folks at Major League Baseball cringed every time a new tweet rolled in, but in the end, the move was a huge success.  What it showed us was that guest posts weren’t just for blogs anymore.  From ESPN to the New York Times, news outlets everywhere were buzzing about the Colbert Takeover.

Obviously, we can’t all have Stephen Colbert guest tweet for us.  But, what you can do is think of people you know that have the ability to bring something unique to your feed.  Is there someone that has a vast knowledge about a specific area of your field?  Or, perhaps you know an up-and-coming artist that could showcase their talent by sharing several themed works of art over the course of a day. 

Either way, both parties can benefit from the exposure.  Your followers may enjoy your guest’s tweets and decide to follow them.  On the flip side, your guest’s fans will likely venture over to your feed to see what that person is up to.  So, be thinking about ways you could effectively utilize a guest tweeter, and have some fun with it!

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